Ask HN: Do's and Don'ts while working long hours | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Do's and Don'ts while working long hours

I was working 15 hours daily for the past one week and woke up today morning with splitting pain in my neck and back. I take it as a warning to break my bad posture and habits.

If you can't avoid long work hours, what are the do's and don'ts while working from home?

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Be well fed, I'd maintain a routine of smaller meals light in carbs to avoid lethargy.

Get some sort of exercise in (do a set of burpees or something).

Be mindful of eye strain.

If you're having trouble falling asleep immediately after working, f.lux and melatonin are your friends.

And probably most important, figure out what mistakes caused you to be stuck working 15 hours a day and learn to avoid it in the future.

I have found the key is to stay up however long you want, but to never interfere with your waking time (i.e., sleep in). It's probably not science based but I suspect for personality types driven to work, there's a desire to not go to bed until things are "done". And there's an equally strong desire to keep sleeping. So they balance. And if you're really pushing the limits, the concept of morning or evening person loses all meaning. Also eat well, drink fluids, shower, and go for short walks.

Alternate standing and sitting every couple hours. Stretch in between. Get enough sleep. (You'll be more productive in fewer hours if you're well rested.) Drink enough fluids. Walk a quarter mile twice a day. Do core exercises (crunches, planks). Eat well.

Basically, take care of yourself.

And make sure to spend a couple hours socially with the people you love at least once a week!

Don't go from bed straight to the desk, have a well-defined separation between work time/space and a personal time/space. Don't ruin your back just because you didn't bother change your cheap, badly designed chair. Last but not least, don't let long hours get in the way of your health and exercise, otherwise you got nothing.

You should probably be taking a break from your desk every hour or so.. just go for a walk or something. I can't imagine it good to sit for such long periods at a time. You'll hopefully find yourself thinking more clearly when you come back anyway

i try to change posture and routine. rotate you habit and pattern of what you do. this way you not stuck on doing same thing over and over again. sometimes just 15 mins or 30mins break would make a tremendous difference

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